Happy Holidays!
I wish everyone a wonderful, restful winter break. May you enjoy special memories with your family and friends if you celebrate Christmas! A special thank you to Sam Abuaqel and Sireeen for sharing the traditions of Ramadan and Eid.
Thank you for the generous gifts. I am truly blessed to be a teacher among such wonderful families! I look forward to seeing everyone next year!
Holiday Party
Thanks to our fantastic room moms, Ann Powers, Alexis Agema, Denny Jara, Debby Bade, and Kim Curtis the wonderful holiday party. The children enjoyed making candy canes, stuffed snowmen, playing holiday Pictionary, and pinning the nose on Rudolf. Our room moms are the BEST! Everyone had a wonderful time!
Wonder What Your Kids Liked Best About 2nd Grade So Far?
Sireen Practicing for the winter program.
Wes Singing morning songs, doing art projects, and ST math
Henry: Math
Margaret: Social studies and all the people in this room.
Mary: Eating the lunches I make for school.
George: Having fun every day and making new friends.
Lily: Music class.
Julian: Doing the sewing project.
Nika: The Naper Settlement trip
Bruno: Singing morning songs and meeting new people.
Beckett: Doing mystery state.
Matty: Making the stop-motion movie and doing the sewing project.
Jack: Making nine new friends.
Kareena: Doing the sewing project.
Maeve: Music class.
Eve: Writing workshop.
Dylan: Fun lunch.
Joey: Doing our sewing project.
Justice: Doing the pledge every morning.
Naomi: Checking our pencil pouches.
Sahn: Doing the sewing project.
Math
We began Unit 3 last week which focuses on place value of 2- and 3-digit numbers. In the first investigation, the students were introduced to "Sticker Station," which is an imaginary store that sells stickers in strips of tens, singles, or sheets of 100 stickers. Students used this context, as well as money (dimes, pennies, dollar bills) and cubes organized in towers of 10, to think about how numbers are composed. Students have discovered that someone can have 32 stickers from "Sticker Station" four different ways:
1. three 10 strips and two singles (30+2=32)
2. two 10 strips and 12 singles(20+12=32)
3. one 10 strip and 22 singles(10+22=32)
4. zero 10 strips and 32 singes(0+32=32)
Students also played a game called Roll a Square and solved addition and subtraction story problems that involved multiples of 10 and ones. Click on the link below to see how students are to solve story problems, using the RSW strategy. I emphasize students solve problems in a way that makes sense to them, and we have wonderful math talks that enable students to share their solutions and the strategies they use. You would be very impressed with our conversations about mathematics!
The students took the assessment for the first investigation which came home this week. Make sure to check out the benchmarks your child is working toward in the next two investigations in this unit.
Writing
The children continue working on writing non fiction books that teach. They learned to identify their audience before they write and anticipate questions their audience might have about their topic. We discussed how good introductions should hook their readers right from the start, and we looked at mentor texts to see how published authors introduce their subjects. The students discovered that asking a question and stating the topic with a grabby first sentence are two good ways to hook their audience. They also noticed that descriptive language will help readers visualize their informational writing just like it did in their small moment writing. The children revisited favorite non-fiction books and identified a text feature they want to try in their writing. They learned that choosing the right paper for their writing is very important! Ask your child to tell you what text feature(s) they have included in their non-fiction writing!
Social Studies - Geography - Travel America
The children learned about the compass rose, cardinal and intermediate directions, the continents, and landforms in social studies. They discovered the cardinal directions are north, south, east, and west. The intermediate directions are northeast, southeast, northwest, and southwest. They watched a Brainpop Jr. video about continents and identified continents. They also read their social studies book and watched a Brainpop Jr. video about landforms. They are making a book about landforms using the Book Creator app.
Reading
The children have been working hard to read non-fiction informational text to grow knowledge. For the past three weeks, the children have focused on growing knowledge by learning the "lingo" of a topic. One strategy we discussed was to anticipate the vocabulary they expect to see in a book. Then the students read to confirm the words they thought they'd see and add new vocabulary to their schema. They record the new vocabulary and new learning about the topic in their reader's notebooks. Ask your child to tell you the strategies s/he is using to learn the lingo of a topic!
Another strategy we discussed is that readers become experts by reading more than one book about a topic. They notice parts in different books that go together and add to what they know in their reader's notebooks. They also spot differences between books. This can sometimes show how different authors feel about the topic.
Finally, we celebrated our non fiction reading by retelling about the topic and conducting a "Celebration Museum" about the non fiction books we've read so far in our class. We will continue reading non fiction when we return from winter break.
We've also read The Trees of the Dancing Goats, and An Orange For Frankie, which are two fiction books by Patricia Polacco. We revisited strategies we've already discussed for fiction reading such as finding story elements, understanding characters, and making inferences. Students wrote their thinking about our read alouds, in their Readers' Notebooks.
Students have received a Winter Break Reading Challenge. I encourage them to keep reading! For every 20 minutes they read they can glue a "marshmallow" on their cocoa mug. Students who read 20 minutes at least 10 times will get a special treat when they return from winter break!
Word Study
We studied contractions last week. The students learned that contractions are a shortened way to write words, and they did “surgery” on words to make them into contractions.
We studied homophones this week: words with one sound but different meanings and different spellings. These words are very tricky and will need to be revisited many times before they are mastered. We read a book about homophones, we drew pictures to help us remember the meaning of each word, we did an art project to test our memories!
Thank you for supporting your child with slightly different word work homework both weeks!
Cursive Handwriting
The students are doing a great job learning to write cursive! They have learned many lower case letters and are having a great time in the process. Ask your child to tell you about this!
I wish everyone a wonderful, restful winter break. May you enjoy special memories with your family and friends if you celebrate Christmas! A special thank you to Sam Abuaqel and Sireeen for sharing the traditions of Ramadan and Eid.
Thank you for the generous gifts. I am truly blessed to be a teacher among such wonderful families! I look forward to seeing everyone next year!
Holiday Party
Thanks to our fantastic room moms, Ann Powers, Alexis Agema, Denny Jara, Debby Bade, and Kim Curtis the wonderful holiday party. The children enjoyed making candy canes, stuffed snowmen, playing holiday Pictionary, and pinning the nose on Rudolf. Our room moms are the BEST! Everyone had a wonderful time!
Wonder What Your Kids Liked Best About 2nd Grade So Far?
Sireen Practicing for the winter program.
Wes Singing morning songs, doing art projects, and ST math
Henry: Math
Margaret: Social studies and all the people in this room.
Mary: Eating the lunches I make for school.
George: Having fun every day and making new friends.
Lily: Music class.
Julian: Doing the sewing project.
Nika: The Naper Settlement trip
Bruno: Singing morning songs and meeting new people.
Beckett: Doing mystery state.
Matty: Making the stop-motion movie and doing the sewing project.
Jack: Making nine new friends.
Kareena: Doing the sewing project.
Maeve: Music class.
Eve: Writing workshop.
Dylan: Fun lunch.
Joey: Doing our sewing project.
Justice: Doing the pledge every morning.
Naomi: Checking our pencil pouches.
Sahn: Doing the sewing project.
Math
We began Unit 3 last week which focuses on place value of 2- and 3-digit numbers. In the first investigation, the students were introduced to "Sticker Station," which is an imaginary store that sells stickers in strips of tens, singles, or sheets of 100 stickers. Students used this context, as well as money (dimes, pennies, dollar bills) and cubes organized in towers of 10, to think about how numbers are composed. Students have discovered that someone can have 32 stickers from "Sticker Station" four different ways:
1. three 10 strips and two singles (30+2=32)
2. two 10 strips and 12 singles(20+12=32)
3. one 10 strip and 22 singles(10+22=32)
4. zero 10 strips and 32 singes(0+32=32)
Students also played a game called Roll a Square and solved addition and subtraction story problems that involved multiples of 10 and ones. Click on the link below to see how students are to solve story problems, using the RSW strategy. I emphasize students solve problems in a way that makes sense to them, and we have wonderful math talks that enable students to share their solutions and the strategies they use. You would be very impressed with our conversations about mathematics!
The students took the assessment for the first investigation which came home this week. Make sure to check out the benchmarks your child is working toward in the next two investigations in this unit.
Writing
The children continue working on writing non fiction books that teach. They learned to identify their audience before they write and anticipate questions their audience might have about their topic. We discussed how good introductions should hook their readers right from the start, and we looked at mentor texts to see how published authors introduce their subjects. The students discovered that asking a question and stating the topic with a grabby first sentence are two good ways to hook their audience. They also noticed that descriptive language will help readers visualize their informational writing just like it did in their small moment writing. The children revisited favorite non-fiction books and identified a text feature they want to try in their writing. They learned that choosing the right paper for their writing is very important! Ask your child to tell you what text feature(s) they have included in their non-fiction writing!
Social Studies - Geography - Travel America
The children learned about the compass rose, cardinal and intermediate directions, the continents, and landforms in social studies. They discovered the cardinal directions are north, south, east, and west. The intermediate directions are northeast, southeast, northwest, and southwest. They watched a Brainpop Jr. video about continents and identified continents. They also read their social studies book and watched a Brainpop Jr. video about landforms. They are making a book about landforms using the Book Creator app.
Reading
The children have been working hard to read non-fiction informational text to grow knowledge. For the past three weeks, the children have focused on growing knowledge by learning the "lingo" of a topic. One strategy we discussed was to anticipate the vocabulary they expect to see in a book. Then the students read to confirm the words they thought they'd see and add new vocabulary to their schema. They record the new vocabulary and new learning about the topic in their reader's notebooks. Ask your child to tell you the strategies s/he is using to learn the lingo of a topic!
Another strategy we discussed is that readers become experts by reading more than one book about a topic. They notice parts in different books that go together and add to what they know in their reader's notebooks. They also spot differences between books. This can sometimes show how different authors feel about the topic.
Finally, we celebrated our non fiction reading by retelling about the topic and conducting a "Celebration Museum" about the non fiction books we've read so far in our class. We will continue reading non fiction when we return from winter break.
We've also read The Trees of the Dancing Goats, and An Orange For Frankie, which are two fiction books by Patricia Polacco. We revisited strategies we've already discussed for fiction reading such as finding story elements, understanding characters, and making inferences. Students wrote their thinking about our read alouds, in their Readers' Notebooks.
Students have received a Winter Break Reading Challenge. I encourage them to keep reading! For every 20 minutes they read they can glue a "marshmallow" on their cocoa mug. Students who read 20 minutes at least 10 times will get a special treat when they return from winter break!
Word Study
We studied contractions last week. The students learned that contractions are a shortened way to write words, and they did “surgery” on words to make them into contractions.
We studied homophones this week: words with one sound but different meanings and different spellings. These words are very tricky and will need to be revisited many times before they are mastered. We read a book about homophones, we drew pictures to help us remember the meaning of each word, we did an art project to test our memories!
Thank you for supporting your child with slightly different word work homework both weeks!
Cursive Handwriting
The students are doing a great job learning to write cursive! They have learned many lower case letters and are having a great time in the process. Ask your child to tell you about this!